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The Telecom Digest for Fri, 22 Apr 2022
Volume 41 : Issue 69 : "text" format

table of contents
LinkedIn can't use anti-hacking law to block web scraping, judges rule
'If Starbucks can do it, why not us?': Lynnwood, Everett Verizon workers join union push
AT&T, Comcast, Cox plot hybrid future for workforce, while GCI embraces remote
Report: T-Mobile has fastest and most consistent cellular, Verizon offers fastest broadband in the US
Re: What is this thing on the phone pole?
Bravo is bypassing Google AMP pages because they're "harmful to users"

Message-ID: <8AC06943-3C39-45A1-8A0A-4F08EE09628D@roscom.com> Date: 20 Apr 2022 09:34:13 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: LinkedIn can't use anti-hacking law to block web scraping, judges rule HiQ can keep scraping LinkedIn member profile data as court upholds injunction. By Jon Brodkin In a case involving LinkedIn, a federal appeals court reaffirmed Monday that web scraping likely doesn't violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit drew a distinction between data that is password-protected and data that is publicly available. That means hiQ Labs - a data analytics company that uses automated technology to scrape information from public LinkedIn profiles- can continue accessing LinkedIn data, a three-judge panel at the appeals court ruled ... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/04/linkedin-cant-use-anti-hacking-law-to-block-web-scraping-judges-rule/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** Crush-them-under-our-thumb department: Microsoft owns LinkedIn. The article quotes from a "Cartooney" letter that M$ sent to the HiQ organization, predicting criminal charges would be brought against those whom dared to copy LinkedIn pages, even though they're available to the public. HiQ had no choice but to fight back, and it looks like they've "won." It may be a Pyrrhic victory, however - which I'd bet is what M$ intended to happen anyway. Bill Horne Moderator
Message-ID: <20220419222424.86B54799@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2022 22:24:24 +0000 (UTC) From: Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com> Subject: 'If Starbucks can do it, why not us?': Lynnwood, Everett Verizon workers join union push By Nick Bowman While Starbucks workers across the nation continue to push for unionization, local Verizon employees are taking up a similar effort, after a pair of locations voted to unionize last Friday. The union vote came from Verizon retail workers in Everett and Lynnwood, following what they say had been "years of retaliation by senior management and poor working conditions, including understaffing and unlivable wages." https://mynorthwest.com/3440365/lynnwood-everett-verizon-join-union-push/ -- (Please remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Message-ID: <20220420015306.8DB15799@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2022 01:53:06 +0000 (UTC) From: Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com> Subject: AT&T, Comcast, Cox plot hybrid future for workforce, while GCI embraces remote Flexibility looks to be the name of the game as operators bring their employees back to the office, with a majority - including big names like AT&T and Comcast - telling Fierce they're opting for a hybrid work model going forward. A smaller portion, however, said they plan to remain mostly remote, citing benefits for both employees and the company alike. An AT&T representative told Fierce the operator has created a new hybrid work model which assigns workers one of three classifications. Office employees work from corporate locations three to five days per week, while Flex employees show up in person one to three days per week and Virtual staff come in to the office about one to five days per month. https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/att-comcast-cox-plot-hybrid-future-workforce-while-gci-embraces-remote -- (Please remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Message-ID: <20220419221755.DC31A799@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2022 23:17:55 +0100 (IST) From: Sean Murphy <murphy.s@remove-this.telecomdigest.net> Subject: Report: T-Mobile has fastest and most consistent cellular, Verizon offers fastest broadband in the US By Michael Potuck Ookla is out with its latest report for mobile and fixed broadband Internet speeds in the US. Continuing a trend, T-Mobile won for best mobile performance across the board with speeds roughly 2x faster than AT&T and Verizon along with having the highest consistency and availability. Meanwhile, for fixed broadband, Verizon edged out XFINITY for the fastest service. Ookla, the maker of Speedtest, shared its report for US mobile and broadband Internet performance during Q1 2022 on its website today. https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/18/report-t-mobile-fastest-most-consistent-cellular/
Message-ID: <84D11B99-AD6A-43A0-85D5-AE0E83E62AAF@herot.com> Date: 21 Apr 2022 18:33:26 -0400 From: "Christopher Herot" <cherot@herot.com> Subject: Re: What is this thing on the phone pole? The air protocol from the meter is simple and unencrypted. https://www.smartmetereducationnetwork.com/uploads/how-to-tell-if-I-have-a-ami-dte-smart-advanced-meter/Itron%20Centron%20Meter%20Technical%20Guide1482163-201106090057150.pdf If you want to have fun with software defined radio you can find all sorts of advice on the interwebs. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/remoticon-2021-smart-meter-hacking-talk/
Message-ID: <E87F75FB-2DE9-4BBF-AFE5-46B62D8DCCFE@roscom.com> Date: 20 Apr 2022 09:16:54 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Bravo is bypassing Google AMP pages because they're "harmful to users" Brave announced a new feature for its browser on Tuesday: De-AMP, which automatically jumps past any page rendered with Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages framework and instead takes users straight to the original website. "Where possible, De-AMP will rewrite links and URLs to prevent users from visiting AMP pages altogether," Brave said in a blog post. "And in cases where that is not possible, Brave will watch as pages are being fetched and redirect users away from AMP pages before the page is even rendered, preventing AMP / Google code from being loaded and executed." Brave framed De-AMP as a privacy feature and didn't mince words about its stance toward Google's version of the web. "In practice, AMP is harmful to users and to the Web at large," Brave's blog post said, before explaining that AMP gives Google even more knowledge of users' browsing habits, confuses users, and can often be slower than normal web pages. And it warned that the next version of AMP -- so far just called AMP 2.0 -- will be even worse. https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/19/23032776/brave-de-amp-google-browser ***** Moderator's Note ***** "When elephants fight," goes a Vietnames expression, "it is the grass which gets trampled." It will be interesting to see what happens to this effort to slow Google's plan for the web-as-walled-Google-garden. This has been coming for a while, and the web's early promise was so quickly subverted to make money for advertising conglomerates that I'm surprised that Google got as far as it has. On the other hand, I'm also surprised that "Bravo," which I'm not sure I've ever seen used, is taking on what is likely to be, at this late date, the biggest windmill that Don Quixote ever tilted at. Bill Horne Moderator

End of telecom Digest Fri, 22 Apr 2022

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